Is USW the right union for maintenance crews?

Here’s a few questions we sent our USW rep:

“There’s some concerns for us [maintenance guys] since the union that was chosen largely is operations focused. Sounds like there are better unions out there that focus/ protect maintenance better than USW. Also, sounds like there are a handful of people over here that worked for USW at some point and they said as a whole were not impressed with them. "

Response from USW: 

On the first point, it’s simply not accurate. 

Almost every facility that we represent (oil or not) is Operations and Maintenance. It is very uncommon to have different unions for ops and maintenance. 

Everyone will have their voice heard and there will be maintenance people on the bargaining committee, as well as operations. They will not have any less representation just because there are fewer of them. This is your union and it will unite all of your voices and concerns as one. The company will want to divide you, your union will bring all of you together.

While there are a couple of refineries in California that have some maintenance represented by trade unions, it is only because of a stupid law that passed making it so. Until that law passed, ALL refinery maintenance in those refineries was USW. I don’t know anywhere on the country other than that small example, where maintenance is not in the same union/contract as ops.

Traditionally, the USW oil workers come out of OCAW (The original Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union), which merged into the USW in 2005. 

So, the USW IS the Oil Workers Union and we have operations and maintenance in every sector of oil, upstream and downstream. There is absolutely no other union that has more oil workers in production, ops, maintenance or pipeline and no other union that knows the industry/knows how to bargain with the players better. 

As far as the “not impressed” take: 

First, I would say this. You guys have expressed to me the fact that the union guys on the slope [WOA] have set the standard for wages, benefits, safety, etc. Without a USW group already there, what would conditions be like? 

Now, with two big USW groups, it will give everyone that much more power to bargain for more there and on the whole slope. So, it’s one or the other, either the union has improved conditions for everyone (union or no) on the slope, or it hasn’t. You guys tell me. 

Second, a Union is made up of the WORKERS. I’m not the Union, YOU guys are the Union. So, if someone “wasn’t impressed”, what did they do to get involved and improve THEIR Union? 

Did they run for an elected position, did they become a shop steward, did they get on the Joint Health and Safety Committee, did they join the grievance committee, did they join the bargaining committee, did they attend any of the USW trainings or workshops? 

Shit, did they even show up for local union meetings and let their voice be heard to their ELECTED Union leaders and make suggestions? 

Or did they just flip to the last page of the contract every few years and look at the wages?

It’s easy to not be impressed if you don’t participate and see how much these companies actually push back on the most basic shit. They want to give you guys absolutely fucking nothing and your Union (you all together) is the only real way to fight back. Sometimes you lose a fight, sometimes you don’t get everything you deserve, but otherwise you’re just hoping the company throws you a bone and doesn’t hurt you in the process. 

That’s the choice you guys will be faced with and if the USW wasn’t impressive enough, then stick with hoping the company doesn’t fuck you even more.

That is a BIG anti-union propaganda point, and I wouldn’t be surprised if management placed that seed. 

No matter what union a group of workers choose, the company Union Busters will always try to say “oh, you went with this union, they suck, why don’t you just vote no and go with another union instead”. 

Then the workers vote it down, get fucked for a year, organizer with a different union and then get the exact same message. 

Again, you guys are the union, and no matter which union you ultimately join, your contract is only as strong as your solidarity. 

Good contracts don’t come from the bargaining table, they come from the boots on the ground getting the guys at the bargaining table backs. 

Any union rep that tells you otherwise is full of shit.

lol, I wish I could say I haven’t heard the same story a million times. It’s ok though, just maintain the solidarity. The only way the company wins is by planting seeds of doubt and driving a wedge between you all. Solidarity wins, a fracture between ops and maintenance is exactly what the company wants.

Editors Note: The above comments are not mine, this is from a USW staff member that we're working with, but I don't find a single word I disagree with- there is ALWAYS going to be something that "could be done better", "we could have gotten more", or "wish we did that different", no one that's ever built a house doesn't have something they wish they'd done a bit different in hindsight, negotiations are no different. But I challenge you to find me a single person on the slope that doesn't recognize that WOA's union is the ONLY reason our pay is where it is today.

If anyone doubts the benefits of a union, or USW ability to work with oil & gas or the maintenance people with-in O&G, please, I'm begging you- reach out to the WOA boys. Call them, ask them what they think about their union. If you don't have contacts over there email us and state your trade- we will personally find a WOA craftsperson from your trade for you to talk to and answer questions about their experiences. So there it is- you can listen to the bosses bullshit about "muh, I worked with a union (as a supervisor) and it wasn't a good experience [for me, as a supervisor, because I couldn't play tyrant]." or you can email me and have talk with the actual dudes that hold the same tools as you in a NS oilfield represented by USW. If you're not willing to take me up on my offer, I don't really think your "well I've heard" 3rd hand stories are worth much.